


'Till the Moment I Found You

by Princeyssash



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Nonbinary Crutchie (Newsies), Racetrack Higgins Has ADHD, Slow Burn, Small mention of transphobia, Trans Male Character, Trans Racetrack Higgins, but actually 4+1, but only like 2 sentences and it gets solved immediately
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28086012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princeyssash/pseuds/Princeyssash
Summary: 4 times Racetrack almost found his soulmate + the one time he did.
Relationships: Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	'Till the Moment I Found You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hufflebub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflebub/gifts).



> Happy holidays Natasja!  
> I hope you enjoy this shameless soulmate fluff xD

1.

Antonio was 5 years old when he went to a new family for the first time. It was scary. The lady from the orphanage had scary eyes and never smiled, he didn’t like her very much. 

They got to the new house he’d be living in by car, which was exciting! Antonio hadn’t been in a lot of cars and he liked the way everything got blurry in cars. It meant they were going super fast! 

Then the car stopped and Antionio remembered why he was scared. What if the new lady was mean? Maybe she wouldn’t want him after all. He followed the mean lady from the orphanage out of the car and looked at his shoes. Maybe if he didn’t look at the new lady she wouldn’t think he was annoying and let him stay. His parents always said he was too loud and annoying. So this time he would be quiet, he wouldn’t say a thing and then maybe, maybe, the new lady would let him stay. 

“Hi kiddo,” he heard a new voice say. “I’m Medda, what’s your name?” The voice sounded nice so he looked up. The lady was smiling at him and she had nice eyes. Not scary like the lady from the orphanage. 

“Antonio,” he mumbled. He could hear the lady from the orphanage correct him, but she was wrong! He heard the name Antonio in a tv show and that Antonio was cool and strong, just like he wanted to be. 

“It’s nice to meet you, kid,” Medda said and smiled at him. “This here is Jack, he’ll be your brother. Jack here is 7 so he’s a little older than you, but I’m sure you’ll be great friends!” 

“Mamma Medda, can we go to the park? I wanna show Antonio the cool slide!” Antonio looked up and saw a boy with tanned skin and a lot of freckles, was this Jack? Medda chuckled. 

“Sure, cowboy, but be safe. Antonio doesn’t know the neighbourhood yet.” 

Antonio felt a hand grab his hand and off they were. 

“Wow, you’re fast!” Jack said. “Oh! I know! I will call you Race. You need a cool nickname like me and Crutchie! Crutchie’s real name is Charlie, but we call him Crutchie because he has a bad leg. Crutchie is super strong though, stronger than Billy the Kid! Billy the kid was a cowboy who was super cool. My nickname is Cowboy.”

“Race?” Antonio thought about it for a second, then nodded. He liked that nickname. It sounded awesome. 

“C’mon! We gotta go see the slide. It goes in circles, it’s so cool!” 

They spent quite a while playing on the slide, which was super cool, just like Cowboy said! It was blue and went round and round in circles and was super fast. 

Wait. The slide was blue. How did he know the slide was blue? The world didn’t have colour, it was grey. That was the only thing his parents had taught him. The world was grey and that’s how it was meant to be. 

“Cowboy, can we go home? I think I’m sick.” Race tugged Cowboy’s sleeve. 

“Yeah, yeah okay.” Cowboy grabbed hold of Race’s hand and led him out of the park. 

The last thing Race saw in the park was a flash of brown hair. 

2.

Race was 8 when he went on his first school trip outside his town. He’d been living with Medda and Cowboy and Crutchie for three years now and it was awesome! Medda called him Antonio and let him cut his hair short and she knew he was a boy. It was amazing. 

After the fateful day when he met Medda and Cowboy and he’d been close to his soulmate, he always loved going to new places. He always hoped to see the colours again. 

Because that’s what it was, Medda had explained. Seeing colours meant he was closer to his soulmate. The person who would love him no matter what. She told him that meeting your soulmate was a wonderful thing and that they would meet when the time was right. Race hoped the time was soon. He wanted to show his soulmate his Pokémon card collection. He hoped his soulmate liked Pokémon too. Or dance. Race started dance classes last year and it was awesome! No one minded if he was enthusiastic and rambled about the topic there, they all loved it as much as he did. 

Now he was on his way to a theme park! He was so excited, he’d never been to a theme park before. 

At the park, the teacher instructed them to form groups of three and to not leave each other behind, which Race thought was pretty smart. He teams up with Albert, his best friend who also loves Pokémon, and JoJo, a new boy in his class who is super cool according to Albert. Race believes him because Albert is super smart, and JoJo looks nice. 

They spend the day going on as many rides as they can, going on the roller coaster with two loops in it five times in a row. They would’ve gone a sixth time but Albert didn’t feel so good so they went on the carousel instead. 

“C’mon, Race! We have to go on the bumper cars one last time before we have to go back to the bus!” 

Race nodded and ran towards the bumper cars with his friends. He picked an orange car because according to the Pokémon cards his favourite Pokémon, Charmander, was orange as well. He raced against JoJo and Albert, trying to hit the other two as much as he could until the time was up. It wasn’t until the time was up and he was on his way to exit the car court that he realised he could see the colours of the cars. He felt a hand tugging his arm and looked up. Albert. 

“Race, we gotta hurry! We’re gonna be late!” 

“But..!” Race tried to protest. 

“Albert is right, we really have to leave!” JoJo added and turned to the exit, Albert following. Race, who’s wrist was still in Albert’s grip, had no choice but to follow. He looked back one last time and saw a toothy grin and big brown eyes. 

3.

Everywhere Race went, he tried to see the colours again, tried to find his soulmate. It had been five years since he last saw his soulmate, back when he was 8. He was 13 now and in a few weeks, in the new school year, he’d be starting middle school. 

First they were on holiday, which was decidedly not the time to be thinking about school. Medda had taken her adopted children on a holiday out of state. Her last production had just finished and as it ended during the kids’ summer break, she decided it would be the perfect time for a summer getaway. Medda’s theatre had been left in the trusting hands of her stage manager, Gemma, for the week. 

Race hadn’t been this happy in a while, he thought as he sat on the porch of their rental cabin with his mum. He was on holiday, he had the best siblings, his mum was amazing. She’d listened to him when he told her he was a boy, even back when he was 5 and just joined her as a foster kid, and never tried to tell him anything else. Now she’d helped him get puberty blockers, so he wouldn’t have to go through the wrong puberty. Smiling to himself, he gave Medda a hug. 

“What’s that for?” she asked as she hugged him back. 

“Thank you,” he mumbled into her shoulder, “for everything. For being my mum.” 

“Of course, kid. I’m so happy the universe brought us together.” She hugged him close for another second before letting go. “Now, off to bed with you. Busy day tomorrow!” 

He chuckled and nodded, and wished Medda good night. 

The next morning he woke up excited for the day ahead. They were going to Niagara Falls which was super freaking cool. All four of them were super excited to get going so breakfast was a quick affair. 

When they arrived at the Falls, Race looked his eyes out. The Niagara Falls were even bigger than he could’ve imagined! They walked around for a while, stopping every so often to take pictures. The closer they got, the more water hit them, but Race didn’t mind. The soft splashes on his skin felt nice and relaxing. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Crutchie, who’s leg was already struggling with the change of location and air pressure and the water from the waterfall was not helping. 

“Ma, my leg hurts…” Crutchie whispered after a while, clutching the top of their leg. “Can we leave, please? I’m sorry…” 

“Of course, baby, I’m sorry your leg hurts…” Medda stroked their hair softly and turned to her boys. “It’s time to go boys, Charlie isn’t feeling well.” 

Jack nodded and went to push Crutchie in his wheelchair, making sure to tell jokes and make them laugh so they could forget about their pain as much as possible for a little bit. Race turned around for one last look at the grey rocks and the gigantic waterfall, even taking a moment to appreciate the hideous red souvenir ponchos people could buy. He fell into step with Medda as they left the site, coming across two kids who were Race’s age. The last thing he noticed about the other kid were beautiful brown eyes that seemed to look into his soul. He almost turned to talk to the other, but Medda was calling for him, Charlie’s leg really hurt so they really had to go now. So even though he wanted to talk to the other, he turned around and left. 

4.

Race was honestly kind of over the whole soulmate thing. It had been over a decade since he first saw the colours. He did his waiting, 12 years of it. After all this time he still hadn’t found his soulmate. He was 17 and nearing the end of his time in high school, most people had found their soulmate by now. 

_ Snap out of it, Race _ , he told himself. You’re on a campus tour, pay attention to your tour guide instead of your soulmate. You’ll find them when the time is right. 

As they walked around the university campus Race did his best to listen to the tour guide, a kid named Milton. He seemed cool, he tried to tell the interesting things about campus instead of the standard talk and wore a pronoun button, which was an automatic plus one point in Race’s mind. 

“... so that concludes our tour,” Milton said, “are there any questions?” 

Race tuned out the middle aged ladies asking dumb questions and talking for their kids and waited until Milton finished talking. 

“I have a question,” he said, raising his voice slightly, “What’s the LGBTQ+ community like on campus?” Milton’s face lit up at his question. 

“You’ll be happy to know we have a fantastic community here! There’s a GSA, led by my twin’s queer platonic partner and soulmate, River. They do an amazing job providing a safe place for all LGBTQ+ students on campus. Beside that, they organize fun get togethers every month, with different activities so new people can get to know some like minded people. Besides the GSA there’s a queer cafe just around the corner from the main building and a couple streets down there’s a little LGBTQ+ owned bakery, best one in town! Though I might be biased, it’s my sister’s and I work there as well on the weekends. I hope that answers your question,” Milton ran a hand through his bright red hair, looking sheepish. “That was maybe a longer answer than you needed, though.” 

“It definitely answers my question,” Race chuckled, “don’t worry about the long answer, I tend to ramble as well.” Milton smiled. 

“Well, I hope to see you at the GSA meetings this fall!” 

“I hope so too!” 

It wasn’t until he was back in the car on his way home that he realised Milton’s hair was red. He  _ knew _ Milton’s hair was red. That meant his soulmate had been nearby, again, and he had not met them, again. 

Fuck. 

+1

Diurna University had already been his first choice before he went to visit, but when he realised he could see colours during the tour he absolutely had to go back. He thanked every deity that he could think of that the university had actually let him in, with a full scholarship even. He got into his first choice university on a full scholarship for his favourite thing: dance. He was so fucking lucky. 

“Antonio, honey, let me take a picture of you with your siblings!” Medda called from downstairs. He grabbed his bag and, after one last look around the first bedroom that he truly called home, went downstairs.

“Oh I’m going to miss you so,” Medda said as soon as she saw him, “do you have everything you need? Phone, chargers, testosterone shots? Dr. Hannah explained how to do those right? And she gave you the emergency number just in case?” Race nodded along to everything she said. He thanked Medda again for helping him get the hormone therapy, his birthday present from when he turned 18 a couple weeks ago. 

“Yes, mum, I have everything.” 

“Good, good. Now go join Jack and Charlie,” she shooed him in their direction where they were standing in front of the mantel. Their picture spot. So many pictures had been taken there throughout the years. From the first one when Race had just moved in with Medda, to Halloween costumes, and prom night pictures. 

“My little brother is going to university. They grow up so fast.” Jack wiped an imaginary tear away and turned to Charlie. “Better watch out, Crutch, you’re the only one left so you’re gonna get all of mum’s attention.” 

“I’m her favourite anyways,” Crutchie told Jack, “I already get all the positive attention.” 

“Kids, kids, calm down. I love all of you equally.” Medda settled the situation like an expert. “Now Tony, Jack, get your butts standing next to Charlie or I  _ will _ promote them to my favourite child.” 

Race and Jack hurried to comply while Crutchie’s whispered ‘I knew it’ was lost in the commotion. 

After what felt like an eternity, Medda decided she had enough pictures. Race grabbed his bag and turned to Jack. 

“Ready to go?”

Jack nodded and they both turned to give Medda another hug. 

“Oh, I wish I could drop you off,” Medda said as she hugged him tight. 

“It’s tech week, mum, I understand. Don’t be too hard on poor JoJo please?” 

“I’ll try my best, but he’s my best behaved actor so I’m sure we’ll be okay.” Medda chuckled and pulled Race in for one last hug. Jack got the same treatment. 

“Bye boys, I’ll miss you!” 

Race and Jack replied with their own goodbyes as they got in the car. Race waved at Medda while Jack started the car and off they were. It was weird, Race mused, he felt sad to leave but also excited for the chapter ahead. 

The road trip was filled with chatter and music and a lot of conversations about Davey, Jack’s soulmate who he hadn’t seen in about two weeks and that was ‘ _ Way too long, Race! I think I might die! _ ’, Jack’s own words. Besides conversations about Davey there was also a good amount of gossip about people from Jack’s university who Race didn’t even know and probably would never meet. Though it would be a lot easier to visit Jack now that he was only two hours away instead of the eight it had been the past two years. 

All too soon they arrived at Race’s uni. Race decided to head up to the check in desk of his building to get his keys while Jack found a place to park the car. Surprisingly, the check in went smoothly and within a couple of minutes Race had a set of keys in one of his hands and a booklet with directions and rules in the other. 

“Race! Come save me from these boxes.” he heard Jack call and he turned around to find Jack carrying three boxes stacked on top of each other. Race rushed to him to grab the top one. 

“Be careful with my stuff, Cowboy!” 

“Sorry,” Jack grinned, not looking sorry at all. “Lead the way!” Race nodded and went further into the building to find his room. 

2.01, 2.02, 2.03.. 2.05! 

Room 2.05

Sean Conlon

&

Antonio Larkin

He hoped Sean was nice. He took a deep breath and pushed the key into the lock, opening the door. The room was nice but small. Although that was to be expected from a dorm room. As he took in the room he noticed the ugly beige walls, the carpet flooring in the worst shade of green imaginable and, was that mould? Gross. Then he noticed the colourful posters on the one side of the room and the bright red bed sheets on the bed underneath the posters. And the boy on the bed. Brown hair, soft brown eyes and the same toothy grin as all those years ago. 

“Oh my god. It’s you.” Race whispered.

“It can’t be. No way.” the other boy stood up and slowly made his way across the room to meet Race. 

“I’m Sean, but call me Spot. He/him pronouns.”

“Antonio, but Race works too. He/him pronouns for me too.” 

“You have the same colour eyes as I remember. Ever since I looked into your eyes at the theme park, it’s been the only colour I couldn’t get out of my head.” 

“I’ve been looking for you since we were 5! Oh my gosh I can’t believe I finally found you!” Race looked at the boy, man, in front of him. His soulmate. After all these years he’d found him. “Can I hug you?” 

Spot nodded and pulled Race into a hug before Race had the chance to do so. If he noticed Jack standing a few steps behind him cooing and taking a million pictures, this would be the only time he didn’t care. He’d almost found and lost his soulmate too many times, he wasn’t letting go any time soon. 


End file.
